Margarine & Fat

Following consumers’ demands, margarine is now mostly based on vegetable fat, and its ingredients are selected in order to obtain a product which is both healthy and functional.

Margarine is a water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion which must be duly stabilised. This confers utmost importance, not only to the production process which must take place, but also to the use of emulsifiers. The right selection of emulsifiers is a keypoint to obtain the desired properties in every specific margarine.

Emulsifiers in Margarine

Margarines use both natural (lecithin) and synthetic emulsifiers. The technological contribution of emulsifiers in margarines is not limited to the stabilisation of the emulsion, but also improves the production process, the plasticity of the puff pastry margarine or the addition of air in cream and cake margarine among others.

Being a manufacturer of both natural (lecithin) and synthetic emulsifiers, Lasenor can propose you both types, separately or also combined in the form of tailor-made blends adapted to your needs, which facilitates incorporation and reduces risk of mistakes during the dosage.

Table margarine

Table margarine is served directly to the final consumer, and therefore, must have excellent characteristics with regard to spreadability, smell and taste. This kind of margarines can have different water content in order to satisfy the demands for light products. Depending on this water content, a different combination of emulsifiers is suggested.

This type of margarine must perform well in the process of spreading on bread, and must have unbeatable taste and smell. Even if the universal emulsifier is distilled monoglyceride (E-471), traditionally other products with lower monoglyceride content can also be used at higher dosages with good results.

For example, mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (also declared as E-471). Their combination with soy or sunflower lecithin (E322) is widely used, not only due to the improvement in palatability, but also due to the synergistic effect obtained when improving the emulsifying capacity that each of them would have separately.

Lasenor’s products for this application are sold under the following brands:

When working with higher quantities of water, special attention must be paid to the preparation of the emulsion. The higher the proportion of water, the lower the flavour contribution in the finished product.

In order to obtain a flavour which resembles butter, powder milk is added to the aqueous phase. But milk protein destabilises the margarine emulsion and we must therefore counteract this effect.

Even with margarines containing only 20% fat (and therefore 80% water), the emulsion is still W/O. This means that the external phase (oil) contains a high quantity of small water droplets, which increase the viscosity. Stabilisers must be added to the aqueous phase (like pectins, carrageenans, alginates, etc.), which help to balance the viscosity of both phases.

The complexity of these margarines means the emulsifiers’ dosage must be higher, and it is highly advised to combine different emulsifiers in order to obtain synergistic effects.

Lasenor’s products for this application are sold under the following brands:

VEROL® (synthetic emulsifiers)

GIRALEC® (Sunflower lecithin)

VEROLEC NON GMO IP® (Non GM Soy lecithin)

VEROLEC® (GM Soy lecithin)

Puff Pastry Margarine

This margarine is used as a fat contribution in the manufacture of puff pastry dough, which is basically made up of flour and water. In the manufacturing process, this dough must be spread with a roller several times, with the margarine inside it, until the desired number of layers is obtained.

Margarine must be firm in order to withstand the whole process without releasing oil, and to contribute to a good development of the layers during the baking process.

The function of the emulsifier in this type of margarine is to stabilise the emulsion, but also to improve the plasticity and contribute to stability when there are freezing/defrosting stages.

Universal emulsifiers like distilled monoglyceride or mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E-471) are always a good choice. They can be added on their own or combined with soy or sunflower lecithin (E-322). In order to improve plasticity, polyglycerol esters (E-475) are suggested.

Lasenor offers tailor-made solutions for each client or application.

Lasenor’s products for this application are sold under the following brands:

VEROL® (synthetic emulsifiers)

CORIS® (synthetic emulsifiers)

GIRALEC® (Sunflower lecithin)

VEROLEC NON GMO IP® (Non GM Soy lecithin)

VEROLEC® (GM Soy lecithin)

Cream & Cake Margarine

Margarines for creams and cakes are very useful to incorporate air. They must be soft formulations, but it is very important that they remain stable without liquidising or separating oil.

They are used in recipes for sponge cakes: they incorporate air when the dough is beaten, and confer a good structure to the sponge. They are also used for whipping with sugar, glucose or other syrups, to obtain fillings and decorations for cakes.

Lasenor recommends distilled monoglycerides or mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E-471), in combination with polyglycerol esters (E-475). In soft formulations, or with a higher water quantity, more unsaturated emulsifiers like our sunflower-based distilled monoglycerides or mono- and diglycerides (E-471), combined with non-hydrogenated polyglycerol esters (E-475) can also be a solution.

Lasenor’s products for this application are sold under the following brands:

VEROL® (synthetic emulsifiers, E-471 and E-475)

VEROL IG® (Sunflower-based E-471)

Frying Margarine

Margarine is used for frying instead of oil in many countries. The typical composition of margarines for frying is around 70-80% fat content and, therefore, 20-30% water content. For this reason, when margarine is placed on a hot frying pan, the emulsion tends to destabilise and the aqueous phase descends towards the bottom, which has a high temperature. The water then starts boiling, which produces small explosions and spatters, which is known as spattering effect.

Moreover, margarine for frying should not stick to the pan, produce excessive foam on the surface or acquire too much colour, and the frying must be homogeneous.

The recommended emulsifiers are focused on stabilising the emulsion, like distilled monoglyceride (E-471), and also on contributing this extra affinity for the aqueous phase conferred by citric acid esters (E-472c) or hydrolysed lecithin (E-322).

Lasenor has developed a product made up of various emulsifiers (E-471, E-322, E-472c) which will confer the desired characteristics to margarine for frying.

Lasenor’s products for this application are sold under the following brands: